Onward & Upward: Good Works

James 2:18 - Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

One thing that is near and dear to my heart is doing for others. I have slacked off on that this past year but will not beat myself up over it. I have had my own trials and tribulations but have come to the realization if I had stayed on the path of doing for others then I might not have had such a hard time. I miss the feeling that I get from lending a helping hand and being good to someone in need. I know good works won't get me into Heaven but it sure makes my life better and much more happier.

Onward & Upward: Me

One of the main things that I want to working on in 2013 is giving myself a break. I think I am way too hard on myself, don't give myself the credit that I deserve, and don't do enough for myself. Fixing all of those "flaws" isn't going to be easy but I feel it will be worth it. Its been a rough year or two for me and I know its going to take some time along with mental training for me to get where I need to be. One of the biggest things I need to tackle is feeling guilty if I do something positive for myself i.e working out. The past few months have been a fog for me and I have slipped back into wanting to hide from the world. With help from God I am going to HAVE to push myself through this. I need to find the strength inside me that I feel has been buried for awhile now. I know its still there I just need to scrape away all of the guilt, insecurities, and fear to get to it. I have set forth some personal goals that I want to accomplish and without my inner strength and strength from God I won't ever be able to meet those personal goals.

Onward & Upward In The New Year: Business

As the new year quickly approaches I have been taking a look over some things in my life that needs to be tweaked. For the most part everything is going well but there are some things that could use some fine tuning such as my business. When I first opened my child care 4 years ago I did not have a business plan. I think it is a little too late for a full fledged plan now but I am going to write a small one up as a guideline. One of the biggest mistakes that I have made in my business is I have often let things become too personal. I have learned the hard way that you cannot run a successful business if you wear your heart of your sleeve. Not only have I gotten my feelings hurt in the past but there is no telling how many thousands of dollars I have been out over the past 4 years by trying to be the nice guy in certain situations. Another change that is going to be made is that I am going to have to start stressing to people that this IS my job and our livelihood. I think too often people assume because we run our business out of our home that we just sit around all day twiddling our thumbs and can drop what we are doing to come to their aid.On the plus side, I am going to sign up for the Rising Star program and hopefully within the first few months of 2013 we will be awarded the Rising Star award. 2013 is the year for Happy Bees to start really shining and the only way to move upward and onward is to become more professional.

Cleaning Green

Thanks to Pinterest I have found several ways to clean "green". My first attempt is processing right now. A cup of hot vinegar and a cup of blue Dawn dishwashing liquid poured into a spray bottle is supposed to clean soap scum. I am leaving it on the recommended 2 hours and then will wipe it down. Even if it doesn't work it sure has killed some of the odor in my hubs bathroom! My next attempt is to make my own laundry soap. Wish me luck!

Sunday

Its a cold but beautiful Sunday! The last day of a 4 day weekend. I am going to cram as much stuff into the day as I can which includes heading to the gym and getting my tree up. I am also going to finish one of my many crafts. I will post pictures later of what I (hopefully) have accomplished today.

Bad to worse

     Things since my surgery have gone from bad to worse. Part of it I blame on myself (weight gain, some of my pain, etc.) but the one thing I cannot take blame for is the loss of our Emma. Thursday marked a week since we buried her. I might not have ever held her but she sure was a blessing to us even if it was just the whole idea of having a grandbaby in our lives. Nevertheless, she still blessed us.

     I am planning on getting my craft room organized today. I am hoping being crafty will bring me out of my funk. I think having my own creative space will go a long way towards added some spark back into my life. I cannot let life's events hold me down. On a good note, I am doing pretty good in the MBA program and hoping to have an A in my current class so I can maintain my GPA then I will get a list of my next classes which is exciting to me. Anywho, guess I will get started organizing my craft room aka the Woolf Den.

21 Days Eating Junk Free Challenge

No Junk Food:
No Chocolate
No Candy
No Biscuits or Cookies
No Cakes Donuts or Muffins
No Pastries
No White Bread
No Chips
No Fast Food
No Nutella, Peanut Butter or other naughty spread
No Ice Cream
No Soda

I am bound and determined to follow through with this. I have lost 50 pounds so far and hoping this wll kick me off on losing even more. Wish me luck!